


Nothing Else

by Amcwish



Category: The Fosters (TV 2013)
Genre: M/M, School Dance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-25
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-04-06 02:15:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4204095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amcwish/pseuds/Amcwish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In that moment, as we were dancing with the green and white polka-dot lights that covered our bodies, nothing else matter. Nothing. I was at home as we both smiled shyly at each other, looking at nothing else but the other’s face. I didn’t even pay attention to the people around us, what they thought didn’t matter. In five or ten minutes, after the feeling of our embrace was gone along with the music and the dance itself, we will care. We will care so much that we will think about everything else but ourselves. But right now we were thinking of ourselves and nothing else."</p>
<p>Set at the beginning of their 8th grade year, no one knows they are dating and they go to a school dance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Else

**Author's Note:**

  * For [blowfob](https://archiveofourown.org/users/blowfob/gifts).



Connor and Elliot were walking down the hallway, heading towards their lockers. Any other day Connor would be walking down the hall with Jude, but today they both had separate class last period. Elliot was one of his friends from the soccer team. Connor had no idea how he was going to tell them about Jude and his relationship. Connor sighed to himself and thought _Same way I’m going to tell my dad. I won’t._

“Dude!” Connor gave his friend a confused look then realized his friend had been talking extensively about practice. “You okay?” He asked concernedly. Connor responded with a nod and Elliot gave him a disbelieving look before settling on a simplified version of the speech of his excitement for practice “Aren’t you excited for practice?! I am. Who wouldn’t be excited for free pizza and drinks!” He paused then continued “Coach is going to go hard on us, now that we are on Varsity so we will probably be dying by the end. But at least we get food!”

Connor laughed before saying “Too bad I’m not going.” He turned towards his locker, putting his stuff inside it. His friend hadn’t moved and was staring at him like he had two heads.

“What do you mean your not going to practice?” He laughed, almost maniacally “Coach is going to kill you.” He drew out his words, emphasizing them. No matter how he said them though, Connor’s choice was to remain the same. He shrugged and walked away from the boy continued to look at him in disbelief.

**Jude’s POV**

_One foot in front of the other, Jude. You’ll make it._

I walked through the halls. Half of me wanted to collapse from the boredom of History class with Mr. King. Half of me wanted to run through the halls to get home, worried I wouldn’t have time to get ready. No part of me had any will to walk through the congested halls at a normal pace.

But I did. I turned the corner and saw Connor talking to someone. By the time I reached Connor though, he had already turned and started walking in my direction. He waited for me to get my things and I asked about what he was talking about with the kid I had seen.

“He was just talking about practice and how I’m skipping it.” Connor explained. What? I don’t know much about sports, but I know it’s not good to miss a practice of any kind. Especially because Connor was on Varsity.

I starting thinking about what was going to happen and before I knew it, I was rambling. “You can’t miss practice! Your coach will get mad, and so will your dad, you don’t know what they are going to do–“

“Jude” Connor stopped me “I’ll handle them, don’t worry.” He paused a bit as I finished collecting my things and walked outside with him. Then he said “You don’t want me to show up late and both looking and smelling like shit, do you?”

I chuckled as I noticed Momma pull up in her car to pick me up. It suddenly dawned on me “Hey, do you need a ride?”

Connor shook his head and explained “I got on of my friends that doesn’t play soccer, Jacob, to cover for me. I told him that he was going to pick me up from practice and drop me off at my house after the dance. His older brother is going to come and pick us up anytime now.” But what if his dad is home they same time he is getting ready for the dance. He spoke again “My dad went off to some thing for work for the evening anyways and won’t be back until an hour or two after Jacob’s brother drops me off.”

I gave him a look, still unsure if this was going to wind up a disaster or work perfectly. He just smiled and said “It’s foolproof!”

I grinned and said “Good. So you can’t mess it up?” He gave a faked look of shock and hurt. Before I could say anything more, the honk of the weary car horn screeched the air. I sighed, waving to goodbye to Connor while walking away.

**Third Person**

“So, this dance is a formal, welcome back to school thing?” Mariana asked Jude as they both tried to decide on which hair gel they should use. Jude nodded and they resumed comparing the final two gels that Mariana held in both of her hands.

Jude glanced around at the ruin that now was their bathroom. The bathroom was cluttered with various types of hair gel, nail polish and shoes. The hurricane of these cluttered objects was caused by Mariana, who absolutely tried to make sure Jude looked nothing short of dashingly handsome for the dance. Jude had no control over the matter, as soon as Lena mentioned the dance (Jude had literally been in the house for two seconds) Mariana got to work on him.

He had chosen the look of a classic midnight blue tux. As he had put it on, Mariana pretended to shed a couple tears saying how he had just grown up so fast. After a much heated debate, he wore black loafers as his shoe of choice, the other competitors were now left scattered on the floor all over the bathroom. They would pick those up later.

Jude looked down at his nails. They both had wanted to paint them Jude’s trademark shade of blue but both agreed that it would just not look right up against tux so settled on a simple clear coat. When Mariana wasn’t looking, his nerves got the better of him as he stole a nibble of the nail. Mariana caught him and smacked his arm with her hand, making him stop.

Mariana finally chose the winning hair gel and went to work. Jude once again uttered the words that he had been asking Mariana all afternoon “So do I look okay?”

Mariana just found his nervousness adorable, but his shaking was making it difficult to style his hair just the right way. She smirked, realizing why he’s so nervous, but she just pretended she didn’t know a thing and asked “So are you nervous?” Instantly, Jude nods.

With a flick of the wrist, Mariana finished styling Jude’s hair. Jude gave her an appreciative ‘thank you’ as she cleaned up the products, making the decision that Jude would pick up the shoes. As she walked out she said “Have a good time!” She then whipped her head around the bathroom door and said “Especially with whoever is making you so nervous that you are shaking like a Chihuahua."

Jude smiles for a second then frowns, realizing that tonight, he wasn’t going to dance with the person he really wants to, his boyfriend. All he was going to do is go to the dance and watch other couples dance but not them. They agreed, no one should know that they are dating yet. He looked up and saw Mariana looking at him. He quickly gave her a fake smile. Mariana frowned but didn’t point out his change in demeanor and walked away.

***

_This must have been the tenth outfit I had tried on. Man, is Taylor critical! No that one is too bright, no that one is too dull!_  Connor thought to himself. Too light, too dark, looking childish, looking like he was 70, Connor had heard it all from Taylor, who had assumed the role of Connor’s fashion consultant. Connor just wanted to make sure he looked good tonight, but this was torture!

He picked up his phone and turned it towards himself to show Taylor the outfit he was currently wearing. He took it off mute and asked “What about this one?” He hoped for dear life that this one looked perfect in Taylor’s eyes so that they could be done. But Taylor disapprovingly shook her head, holding up her thumb and pointing towards the floor.

“What’s wrong with this one?” Connor whined “I’ve tried on ten outfits! Now what could be wrong with this one?” He added. His remarks only earned an eye roll from Taylor.

“It’s too casual. You need something more formal. Did you try on all of your tuxes?” He sighed and headed to his closet to look. After a couple seconds he found one, holding it up to Taylor. She smiled “I have a good feeling about that one. Try it on.”

Feeling a little spark of hope, Connor quickly put the phone on mute, faced it downwards and proceeded to try on the tux. When he once again grabbed the phone, took it off mute and showed Taylor the tux “What you do think?”

She smiled brightly “It’s perfect! I love it!” He nodded as he looked down at the tux straightening it. He hadn’t worn it for at least 6 months but it still fit perfectly on him. It was the classic, sleek black tux with a metallic grey tie. He looks back up at her with a shy smile. She spoke again “Jude will love it!”

His head shot up at her, startled “Wha-What are you talking about?” All Taylor did what shake her head. Was he seriously trying to play dumb with her? His voice got higher and higher with every word he spoke “What does Jude have–“

She stopped him in mid-sentence “Cut the crap, you know I’m not buying it!” Connor looked down at the floor sheepishly “It’s so obvious you like him.”

Connor tried one more time “I don’t like him like that!” He ended the FaceTime before she could add anything else. She’s going to find out. He thought to himself. He sits down on his bed and falls back onto it with a huff.

***

The Adams Foster kitchen table was filled with chatter as everyone talked about their days, multiple conversations going on at once. Mariana and Lena had begun one when they noticed Jude’s glance off into the distance as he quietly chewed his food, not uttering a word to anyone. Both of their eyes had landed on him, and seeing the other mimicking their movement they both looked at each other. Lena motioned towards Jude with her head and mouthed the short question: _Dance?_ She knew Mariana would know, she _had_ spent the whole day with him. Mariana nodded. Callie had been watching the silent interaction between Mariana and Lena involving Jude and joined Lena in giving a silent laugh at the distracted boy.

Lena turned towards Jude and asked out loud, pretending she had noticed his behavior “So, bud, are you nervous for the dance?” This only earned an absentminded nod from Jude as he continued to quietly eat his food, consumed by his own thoughts.

A couple minutes later, everyone finished and Lena and Jude got in car, heading off to Anchor Beach.

***

**Jude’s POV**

After a minute or so of driving, Momma spoke to me “Are you okay sweetie? You seemed a bit distracted at dinner?”

“I’m just excited for the dance.” All I thought about was different things that could happen if Connor and I decided to dance. What people would say, what people would do. What would his friends from the soccer team think, or the baseball team? What if word got to Connor’s dad? That wouldn’t be good. What would Daria think? She was understandably very upset when Connor broke up with her, how would she react? This was all I thought about at the dinner table and the thoughts started to once again consume me now.

I know Lena doesn’t believe me but she doesn’t push and we sit the rest of the car ride in silence. 10 minutes later, we arrived at the school. Lena started to go over the essentials.

“Got your phone” Check.

“Pick up time is nine, right?” Yes, yes it was.

“Remember if the punch smells funny don’t drink it!” I groaned loudly in response.

“Let me just fix one thing.” It definitely wasn’t one thing. She straightened my tie, plucked a couple of lint balls from my pants and moved a piece of my hair away from my eyes (only for it to fall back to the exact same place it was before).

“Okay.” She smiled giving me a hug over the car window “Have fun!” She called as I walked towards the door. I waved as the car drove off. I opened the door and entered the dance.

The decorations were okay, just a lot of streamers thrown all over the gym with a couple of stars scattered around. There were a few chain links and some tinsel but nothing overly extravagant. As I walked in I immediately spotted Taylor and Connor so I decided to approach them.

**Third Person**

_Couldn’t these too be a little more original than this?_ Taylor thought as she watched Jude and Connor stare at each other in amazement, just like in the movies. This went on for a minute before Taylor burst into laughter, not being able to take it anymore.

With their gawking now being interrupted by Taylor’s laughter, Jude and Connor both snap out of their kind of trance and give each other a soft quick “Hey” before Jude walks of, giving the excuse that he was getting some punch.

As Jude walks off, Taylor’s laughter grows. “Smooth.” She tells him before her laughter made it so she had to but her hands on her knees.

Connor, however, did not find this funny. He paused a second with embarrassment of being caught staring at Jude. He didn’t give up though, not long after he whined “I don’t have a crush on him!” Taylor rolls her eyes. He doesn’t give her any credit, does he? Does he think she’s stupid, that’s she’s blind? She replied with a sarcastic and drawn out “Sure.” Before Connor can even come up with a comeback (it would’ve been poor anyways), Taylor walks off to go find Daria, leaving Connor by himself.

***

The dance was almost over and nothing had happened. Frankly, Taylor was getting tired of waiting for Connor to say anything. They were talking about Game of Thrones, a show they both enjoyed greatly. Jude was off talking to someone in their math class.

The upbeat song that was playing ended and the DJ announced “And now, for our last song of the night, we will be slowing it down.” He drew out the last part, and Connor almost groaned loudly in frustration. Almost.

Taylor, being the great friend that she is, decided to add on hintingly, saying “So if you want to dance with that, someone special, this is your last chance.” She tried, doing her best impression of the DJ. Seeing that it wasn’t working she continued stating simply “When this started, a ton of people were here and a lot of the people will or have already left early to avoid the traffic that is cause by these type of things. So I bet you no one will notice.” She stopped speaking and looked up at him hopefully.

_She was right._ Connor thought to himself The number of people at the dance had dropped significantly. Connor made such an in-the-moment decision, that he hadn’t noticed he had been walking until he had found Jude and somehow asked him to dance.

But Taylor was just confused. Connor had just walked away from her, with no explanation. _He probably went off some place to sulk._ Taylor thought. _Shit, I pushed too far._ She followed Connor and a hurried pace until she realizes what he is actually doing. He was asking Jude to dance with him! She smiled at the two.

**Jude’s POV**

As I was talking to Jake about the horrible math homework, I kept thinking about Connor. They had just announced that they were playing the last slow song and I realized that we really weren’t going to slow dance here. Even though I knew we weren’t, I kept hoping that maybe, maybe we would.

I felt a light tap on my shoulder. My spirits rising, a turned around to find a shyly smiling Connor. I pull him to the side and as soon as I do, he asks “Would you like to dance with me?” I nodded smiling and we both were heading onto the spot that had become the unofficial dance floor, right in front of the DJ. I then realized something and stopped.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He looked at me with concern, I looked him dead in the eye “Are you sure?” He needed to know what he was risking by doing this. He needed to be absolutely sure.

Grabbing my forearms with his hands, he pulled me closer to him. He looked me in the eye and said “More than anything.”

In that moment, as we were dancing with the green and white polka-dot lights that covered our bodies (courtesy to the DJ), nothing else matter. Nothing. I was at home as we both smiled shyly at each other, looking at nothing else but the other’s face. I didn’t even pay attention to the people around us, what they thought didn’t matter (even though I swear I thought I heard Taylor squeal). In five or ten minutes, after the feeling of our embrace was gone along with the music and the dance itself, we will care. We will care so much that we will think about everything else but ourselves. But right now we were thinking of ourselves and nothing else.

The song ended and we separated. The DJ gave the usual farewell, saying how much he was thrilled to come here, obviously a meaningless statement (but what did we actually care?). We walked over to a very excited Taylor.

“Soo…” She started. You could actually hear the grin in her voice “What’s going to happen now?” Connor and I laughed.

Connor decided to mess with her by saying “We are all going to go home.” Taylor was not amused.

She rolled her eyes and said bluntly “You know what I mean.”

I decided to play along by saying “We going leave things exactly the way they were.” I looked over to Connor, who I knew was trying, very hard, not to laugh.

“So you are just staying friends?!” she shouted with disbelief “Seriously!” We both gave our best shocked, dramatic gasp that we could muster.

“Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?” I started, once again trying to be as dramatic as possible. 

“Are you suggesting that we–“ Connor continued, pretending to sound hurt.

“Break up?” We said at the same time, putting our hand over our chests melodramatically.

“No!!!!” Taylor shouted frantically. Connor and I immediately started laughing. She then realized what we said and looked at us with absolute shock “Wait what! You’re dating? For how long? A week, two?” She pestered.

I just answered simply “Four months.”

Her eyes became wide, her mouth wide open. “Four months!” She shouted angrily “And you both didn’t think to tell me! Seriously! I–“ She was interrupted by the car horn of her dad’s truck. She gave Connor and I a hard stare and pointed to the ground “This conversation.” She glanced between both of us “Is not over!’ She starts to walk away before saying “I want details!”

We both laughed as she walked off. As I watch Taylor leave, I frown, concerned “What if your dad finds out! He would kill you! I knew we shouldn’t have done this. I knew–“

“I will be fine.” Connor stopped me before I once again started to ramble. “I will deal with it.”

We sat in a comfortable silence for a minute before Connor asked “Hey can you give me a ride home?” He paused then explained how Jacob had got sick and his brother had to come pick him up early, leaving Connor without a ride.

“I’ll ask my mom.” I tell him. He only nods as I watch Momma pull up. I point at Connor, silently asking to drop him off, mouthing the question. Lena nods and we both walk hand-in-hand towards the car. She was shocked but that didn’t matter. Until Monday, nothing else mattered except us.


End file.
